This handout photo released by climber Nirmal Purja's Project Possible expedition shows heavy traffic of mountain climbers last week lining up to stand at the summit of Mount Everest. Photo / AFP
The death toll from a traffic jam of climbers on Mount Everest in the Himalayas, the world's highest summit, has risen to 10, officials said, as a record number of people tried to use a brief window of good weather to make it to the top.
The latest casualty on
the mountain was identified as Robin Haynes Fisher, 44, of Britain, who died at 28,215 feet (8599m), authorities said.
Sherpa guides on the Nepali side of the mountain have complained that the traffic jam at the last stretch of the climb, called "the death zone," has become the most serious problem for climbers in this northern spring season.
"I have climbed Everest so many times, but this spring's traffic jam was the worst," said Tshering Jangbu Sherpa, a guide who summited Everest on May 22. "Many climbers who moved to the summit without extra supplement oxygen bottles suffered the most. They suffered because of the traffic jam, not because of wind and coldness."
He said that after his team became stuck in the line, he had to borrow a supplemental oxygen bottle because one member of his expedition was running out. "Otherwise, he could also die there in the high camp," he said.
